This invention relates to vehicle shock absorbers.
This invention relates to a vehicle wheel suspension, and particularly to an annular elastomeric pad for seating the lower end of a coil spring that surrounds a shock absorber strut for the wheel suspension.
Wheel suspensions of interest are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,325 to J. Mackovjak, U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,585 to G. Dronen et all, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,355 to N. Mayashi.
The vehicle suspension of particular interest comprises a shock absorber strut that includes an upstanding fluid cylinder having a piston rod connected to the vehicle body and a shock absorbing cylinder connected to the vehicle wheel suspension arm. The vehicle suspension further includes an upper spring seat attached to the piston rod and a lower spring seat attached to the shock absorbing cylinder. A coil spring is trained between the two spring seats in surrounding relation to the shock absorber strut. The axis of the spring is offset from the shock absorber strut axis.
The present invention relates to the construction of the elastomeric lower spring seating pad, whereby a desired eccentricity can be maintained between the spring and the strut without unduly increasing the manufacturing cost of the lower seat support. The elastomeric pad acts as an isolator for absorbing high frequency suspension noise.
A rigid steel platform is affixed to the shock absorber cylinder for supporting the elastomeric pad. The pad includes an upstanding inner lip for locating the lowermost convolution of the coil spring in eccentric relation to the shock absorber axis. The elastomeric pad further includes an upstanding peripheral flange that surrounds the lowermost convolution of the coil spring, whereby the flange acts to contain the spring in event of coil spring failure; the failed spring is prevented from forcibly impacting the vehicle tire in such fashion as to possibly produce a tire puncture.
The peripheral flange is reinforced by means of an endless annular steel band incorporated into the flange during the operation of molding the elastomeric pad.
Further features of the invention will be apparent from the attached drawings and description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention.